Why we created Reg&Bob

When we decided to get our first dog - I spent much time before his arrival regretting the decision. How could we possibly look after him properly - the responsibility was immense. And despite changing my work role to be based at home, there would be times we would go out and he would have to be on his own - how would that work?

But of course it did work out and the fourteen years with Ted turned us into totally gooey, dog obsessed owners. We did some truly ridiculous things - my husband and I used to argue over who was going to open the front door to get the first glimpse Ted (I kid you not). But we slowly realised he was more dog than human. A loving rewarding dog, a dog who was sympathetic yet strangely unresponsive to our lengthly one way conversations, a dog that only truly understood a handful of words - his favourite being ‘treat’. But he was able to let us know how he felt despite this limited vocabulary - his extra jaunty strut on certain walks told us we’d come up trumps!

Ted

On a practical note we realised that we didn't really utilise all the hoards of equipment we had purchased in our ‘new parent’ frenzy. The retractable lead, the rigid lead, the towels, the blankets with his name on - incase he forgot who he was, the collars with a buckle , the collar without, the little country cottage themed dog house he could sleep in, the raised bed, the floor bed, the dog hole. We accumulated endless kit despite knowing he would never be dressed in a coat, hat or even a bowtie. Nor did he need the endless beds to sleep on, gracing a sofa was perhaps the most human thing he would ever do. In fact his requirements were simple - to join us on the sofa in the daytime and a bed at nighttime - perhaps his, preferably ours. A first floor lookout was a nice to have and a position at the front gate to scare off passers by (usually those who had the temerity to wear a hat when walking past our house) was a joyous treat from time to time.

When Reg, quickly followed by Bob, came along several years later I was determined (despite the doubling up) not to over complicate things or burden ourselves with two much kit - we live in London and space is precious. When it came to finding a collar and lead I thought it would be simple - but it wasn’t. I don't do fussy or ornate but I still wanted the boys to look smart - and I wasn’t prepared to spend a second mortgage on a collar and lead. It was apparent that both Reg and Bob were going to be doing lots of dog-like things and muddy water was going to feature big time, so expensive designer products were definitely not going to work.

So what do you do when you can’t find what you want? You find a way to have it made. The asthetics where simple - it had to be stripes and definitely colour - everything else was about making the products the most practical, straight forward and safe. A small but perfectly formed range was soon created and Reg and Bob kindly added their name. A simple, uncomplicated approach will always be what we are about and our ultimate aim - for dogs be dogs.

Whilst we have new Reg&Bob products in the pipeline we had to ask ourselves how we could extend our offering. So when we stumbled across the SoggyDoggy range of drying shammys and mats, we knew we had found a winning combination. Over night I threw away endless piles of smelly towels and layers of equally disgusting blankets from the back of the car and replaced them with high quality, functional products that have simplified our life even further. It wasn’t long before For All Dog Kind shampoos were on board too with their belief that every dog deserves to look, feel and smell great, naturally - it seemed we had found another like minded business.

If you want to concentrate on the important stuff with your dog have a look at our website. And whilst we do have a collar in each colour because why wouldn’t you want to ring the changes - we no longer have huge piles of unnecessary kit and believe me its rather empowering. The ‘less is more’ approach definitely works for us - and when the teenagers understand this, I know I will have really succeeded in life.

And by the way - Whilst we all know that our pets are not humans, if you follow us on Instagram you will see that Reg has a somewhat human ability to post his musings, opinions and photos - and I’m here to say that yes, it is all his own work.